William



(No Model.)

W. 0. GOTTWALS & P. L.- ELLIS. LETTER OR BILL FILE; I

No. 554,261. I I/I Patented Feb. 11, 1896.

ATTORNEYJ DNTTED STATES ATENT rrrcn.

\VILLIAH O. GOTTlVALS, OF OTTAlVA, CANADA, AND FREDERICK L. ELLIS, OFI\IILLDALE, CONNECTICUT; SAID ELLIS ASSIGNOR TO SAID GOTTIYALS.

LETTER OR BILL FILE.

srncrrroArron forming" part of Letters Patent No. 554,261, dated.February 1 1, 1896.

Application filed March 14, 1895. Serial No. 541,688. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, \VILLIAM O. GOTT- wALs, a subject of the Queen ofGreat Britain, and a resident of Ottawa, Carleton county, Province ofOntario, Dominion of Canada, and FREDERICK L. ELLIS, a citizen of theUnited States, and a resident of Milldale, in

the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Letter or Bill Files, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Our invention relates to that class of billfiles or paper or documentholders which comprises a file board or base and arches secured thereonand adapted to hold papers or analogous articles by passing throughperforations therein, said arches being composed of stationary archmembers and movable arch members, by the separation of which parts thepapers are permitted to be impaled or placed upon them.

It is the object of the invention to simplify the construction of such afile and attain great economy in its manufacture, both byreducing thenumber of parts of which it is composed and by so shaping them that theymay be manufactured with few operations and readily assembled.

The invention relates more particularly to the means by which themovable arch members are permitted to oscillate, are kept parallel witheach other during such movement, and may be held in either their open ortheir closed position.

The invention further consists in the parts and combinations thereofhereinafter set forth and claimed;

I11 order to make our invention more clearly understood we have shown inthe accompanying drawings means for carrying it into practical effect,without limiting our improvements in their useful applications to theparticular construction which, for the sake of illustration, we havedelineated.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view on line I I,Fig. 2, of a portion of a bill-file embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is arear view of the same, the file board or base being removed. Fig. 3 is asectional view on line III III, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a sectional view online IV IV, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the lower portion ofone of the movable arch members or transferwires. Fig. (5 is aperspective view of the operating or controlling crank-arm for the samedetached. Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional view of said wire, showingthe crankarm in plan. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of thestationary arch members or receiving wiresh Fig. 9 is a perspective viewof the pin forming a portion of the controlling mechanism of thetransfer-wires. Fig. 10 is a sectional View taken on a plane similar toFig. 3, and showing another form of such controlling mechanism. Fig. 11is a sectional view on line XI XI, Fig. 10.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a file board or base to which isadapted to be secured by screws 2 or otherwise a metallic plate 3,preferably of iron or steel, but which may be of any suitable material,and which serves for the attachment and support of the papenholdingmeans and their controlling mechanism, the latter being preferablyinclosed within a metallic box or case 4 secured to the plate 3 in anypreferred manner, as by malleable flanges or lugs 5 engaging per-.forations or notches in the plate.

The stationary or receiving wires are indicated at 6, each consisting ofa metallic rod or wire beveled at the side of its upper end, asindicated at 7, to form a point and having drilled in said upper end alongitudinal socket 8. Formed integrally with the lower end of the wire6 is a peripheral flange 9, forming a shoulder adapted to rest upon thetop surface of the plate 3. Said flange is situated a short distanceabove the lower end of the wire, leaving a cylindrical neck 10, adaptedto be inserted through aperforation 11 in the plate 3 and to be upset orriveted upon the lower surface of the latter, as shown in Fig. 1. 'lVethus form a stationary arch member or receiving-wire in a very simplemanner, which is adapted to be very securely held upon the base-platewithout liability of becoming bent laterally out of its proper relationto the movable arch member, its stability being greatly enhanced by theflange 9 above described. It is, moreover, adapted at its upper end toperfectly co-operate by lateral engagement with the dowmvardly-extendedand pointed ends of the movable arch member.

The movable arch members or transferwires are shown at 12, their upperends being curved and pointed and their lower ends held in suitablebearings, in which they may 0scillate relative to the receiving-wires 6.We conveniently form such bearings by perforations 13 in the plate 3 andsimilar perforations 14 in the top plate of the casing 1. Thetransfer-wire is held in place in these bearings and prevented fromvertical movement by collars or washers 15, situated above and below acrank-arm 16, fixed on the wire and confined between said arm, thecasing at and the bottom plate For the rigid attachment of the crank-armto the transfer-wire the latter is formed with one or more lateralrecesses or notches 17, forming flat faces, and the crank-arm isprovided with a longitudinal slot 18 of such width as to neatly receivethe notched or recessed portion of the wire 12. \Vhen these two partsare thus assembled, the ends of the crank-arm situated at the oppositesides of the slot 18 are bent together or toward each other, as shown inFig. 7, thus producing with little labor a union between the wire andcrank-arm which is perfectly rigid and of such nature as to prevent anyturning of the arm upon the wire.

The crank-arms 16, which constitute a part of the mechanism foroperating the transferwires, are provided with apertures or bearings 20engaged by a connecting-rod 21, therelative arrangement of the partsbeing such that the arches of the transfer-Wire are parallel and are somaintained by the rod 21. during their oscillation from or toward thereceivingwire 6 as the file is opened or closed. e are thus enabled tooscillate the transfer Wires while containing papers upon their archedportions, and may apply papers to the transfer-wires instead of to theordinary receiving-wires, while the file is open, which could not bedone if the arches were arranged to oscillate in opposite directions.

Various forms of controlling means may be applied to the arms 16 and rod21, or to one of them, all of said parts constituting a single connectedmechanism; but we prefer that herein illustrated, consisting of a thrustdevice, such as a thrust-pin, operating upon the connecting-rod 21 andspring-actuated. Such a pin is indicated at 22, having its outer endmounted in a socket, recess, or aperture 223 in the casing a or otherfixed part and having its inner end engaging the connecting-rod. Forsimplicity and security such engagement is effected by a bend or recess2% formed in the rod 21, in which rests the notched or bifurcated end 25of the thrust-pin. The controlling means is thus adapted to be moved bythe connecting-rod from one position to another, (see the dotted linesin Fig. 3,) so that it may exert its thrust or force in either of twodirections, enabling the same controllin means to be utilized forholding the movable arch members in either their closed or openposition. That position of the controlling device in which it is forcedback to the greatest distance by the movable arch members is in a linewhich may be termed its line of greatest resistance and is intermediatebetween the two other positions which it assumes at the extreme open orclosed positions of said arch members.

A convenient mode of applying the spring to the thrust-pin is indicatedin Fig. 3, in which a helical spring 26 surrounds the body of the pinand is confined between the front plate of the casing 4 and a flange 27on the pin. The thrust-pin with its bifurcated end and flange ispreferably formed in a single piece of wire, as indicated in Fig. 9.

Another simple means of applying a spring to the thrust device isindicated in Fig. 10, in which a leaf-spring 28 of arched form bears atits ends upon the front plate of the casing and engages the thrustdevice at the outer end of the latter. This engagement is effected byforming the spring with an aperture 29 in which is received the outerend of the thrust device. In this construction said device may be madeof sheet metal, formed at its outer end with a projection 30 forentering the aperture 29 and at its inner end with a notch 31 forreceiving the connecting-rod.

e claim 1. In a letter or bill file provided with paperholding archesthe combination with the movable arch members rotary upon vertical axesof connections whereby they are maintained in parallelism during theiroscillation, and a spring-actuated controlling device which is connectedwith said movable arch members and is by their movement shifted from oneside to the other of its line of greatest resistance, for holding saidmembers in either their open or closed position, substantially as setforth. I

2. The combination in a file of movable arch members rotary on verticalaxes, crankarms on the same, extending in the same direction with eachother, a connecting rod or link between said arms and a spring-actuatedcontrolling device which is connected with said arches and is by theirmovement shifted from one side to the other of its line of greatestresistance, for holding said members in either their open or closedposition, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the movable arch members, crank-arms and a rodconnecting said members, and a spring-actuated thrustpin connected withsaid rod, substantially as set forth.

4:. The combination of the movable arch members, cranks and a rodconnecting the same, said rod being formed with a bend or recess,and aspring-actuated thrust device en-- gaging said recess and adapted to bechanged In Witness whereof We have hereunto set in direction by themovement of the rod, suhour hen (Is in the presence of two Witnesses.

stztntially as set forth. \VILLIAM O. GOTTYVALS.

5. The combination with the movable arch FREDERICK L. ELLIS. 5 members,their connecting rod, and the Witnesses:

spring, of the thrust-pin formed With a collar F. M. ELLIS,

and bifurcated end, substantially as set forth. E. S. TODD.

